Connect-i-Final-Cut

I just read the article about the Stamford, Connectcut school that is employing high tech tech in their buildings. Right on the first page a couple things stuck out to me. First off, it says that with the high schools in SoCal, they have a 100% graduation rate. This understandably is surprising, but should it be, really? Using technology such as movie making is interesting. It's fun. I know I enjoyed it more than writing a paper or even making a wiki for that matter. I would love to go to school if I knew I was going to make movies all day and have fun and do projects that the stupid teachers consider "assignments"; I'm not learning anything, I'm having a good time. If we can get students to think like that (alright maybe not exactly but you get the point) then three quarters of the battle is over.

Another thing that struck me as a good sign is that it says in the article that the school is using Final Cut. I am not a huge software junkie, but from a couple of conversations I had at work with this fine chap named Mike is that Final Cut Pro costs around a thousand dollars (Ed. Note - I just looked it up and Final Cut Pro 2 costs $1,234.05). Regardless of the discrepancies in price, spending those copious amounts of ducats is something to behold, especially for a high school. For those that don't know (i.e. most of you) Final Cut is used to edit movies. By professonals. It's the Paul Bunyan of movie editing software. It's HUGE, Tom. Granted, there is a lot that can be done with iMovie and it is a good tool. But for serious movie auteurs, Final Cut is soemthing to strive for. It's the type of thing you save a summer earnings of mowing lawns and selling lemonade for. But I digress. The fact of the matter is that this school is committed to quality if they have purchased Final Cut for their students who probably aren't going to make movies for a living when they get out of high school. It shows a lot of promise and effort on the school's part to become interested in their students and their want for the students to take them serious and in turn become interested in what they are saying.

My last point is this paragraph: "Principal Paul Gross says the goal is to better equip students by giving them hands-on experience with technology, encouraging them to work in teams, and helping them attain the skills that business leaders agree are needed for success in the modern workforce." This smacks vaguely of something I recall reading...oh yeah. Friedman's Great Collaborators. This school is on the cutting edge of what will become a flat world and thank God (or whoever you choose to believe in or if you are an atheist, well thank goodness) that the students will be ready for it when it comes. Hopefully more of these schools with technology and the students' happiness and interest pop up in the future and based on current trends, this day isn't tat far away.